President Donald Trump’s White House responded to Tuesday’s election of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani with a mock New York Knicks logo declaring “Trump is Your President.”
The logo was posted on official White House social media channels Tuesday night, then deleted by Wednesday morning. Per Front Office Sports, the White House removed the post at the request of the Knicks.
The White House/X
(The White House/X)
A source close to the Knicks told FOS that the Knicks reached out to the White House about the logo, and the White House took it down in response.
Advertisement
Per FOS, the White House did not address the logo or the decision to take it down in its response to an FOS inquiry about the social media post. The Knicks issued a statement when asked about the post by FOS.
“The Knicks remain neutral on political matters,” the statement reads. “We hope all our elected officials, whether current or recently elected, do a great job in office.”
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa and Trump-endorsed Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent in Tuesday’s election after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.
After winning 50.4% of the votes in the three-way race, Mamdani repeatedly invoked Trump in his victory speech and urged Trump to “turn the volume up,” prompting a roar of approval from his supporters.
Trump posted on his Truth Social account shortly after, “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”
Advertisement
Mamdani used Knicks logo in his campaign
Tuesday was not the first time during the NYC mayoral election that the Knicks responded to their logo being appropriated without their permission.
Mamdani previously used a mock Knicks logo reading “New York Zohran” in a campaign ad. The ad ran during the broadcast of a Knicks game in New York and depicted a game of pickup basketball. It concluded with an image of the mock Knicks logo.
Zohran Mamdani campaign ad
(Zohran Mamdani campaign ad)
The Knicks responded to that use of their logo by issuing a cease-and-desist order to Mamdani’s campaign.
“The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy.
“The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”
Per FOS, the Knicks first reached out to Mandani’s campaign and issued the cease-and-desist order when they did not hear back. Mamdani’s campaign manager, Dora Pekec, issued the following response when the cease-and-desist letter was made public:
Advertisement
“Adjustments are being made to the ad, and while the Knicks might not be able to publicly support our campaign, we’re proud to publicly support our NY Knicks.”
